Tag Archives: food

How boring is a glass of water? Or how ordinary? Have you ever noticed the little bubbles of air that come out of solution as the glass sits? I noticed the way the glass and bubbles glowed when was carrying up my glass w/ my phone underneath with the screen on. It was kind of neat, neat enough to take a break from my cramming, er, I mean studying, for my finals this week to snap a few images. Nothing spectacular or exciting, unfortunately, just happy to tick off one more day closer to 366 🙂

Tonight while finishing up my studies I started to wonder what I would shoot. I looked over at the empty Pepsi bottle sitting on my desk next to my binder and the shape of the threads on the top caught my eye. I thought, “I bet that might make an interesting black and white photo.” What do you think? Agree? Disagree? I’m curious to see why. 🙂

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I was blessed to be able to spend it with my girlfriend’s family. She is in Spain, and my parents are in CA, so It was good to be able to be with ‘family’ yesterday. I brought my turkey fryer and introduced them to the best turkey the’ve ever had 🙂

I’m sooo not fully back into the routine! About 8pm I realized I had not shot a single image all day, and I still had lots to do to prep for a hike tomorrow, including running to the local grocery store to pick up some trail food and cider (I’ll be bringing it hot in a thermos for the Summit reward!). As I was leaving the store, I noticed the typical grocery store bin full of pumpkins that you see this time of year in every grocery story. So I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots. Deff not art of my best stuff, but I did get my daily photo 🙂 Tomorrow will be Fall Foliage from New Hampshire!! THAT will be good stuff!!

I’ve shot corn fields full of corn before, but how about an empty corn field? I think they are pretty interesting with the short stubble all in rows and the odd ears lying on the ground. But what really caught my eye about this field a few days ago was a lone corn stalk in the middle of the field. Just one, all by itself.

Wow, It’s hard to believe that it’s August already! Where has the year gone? Summer is almost over 😦 But one of my favorite things to do in the summer is to cook on the grill, and my grilled corn is always asked for at cookouts 🙂

My method of grilling is quite different than that of most people I know. I actually grill the ears after I husk them. My secret recipe is this: rub the ear down with butter (the real stuff, not the oil-based stuff that comes in a tub), and sprinkle lightly with Lawry’s Seasoning Salt. Then I put it on a hot grill, turning till each side is cooked (some kernels start to brown/blacken). Serve hot! You can use any seasoning you like: garlic, pepper, curry, etc. Try it and you will love it!! Or your money back 🙂

Ever get in a creative rut? Can’t think of something to shoot or an idea for a photo to make? Just check the trash! Well, if you have some old chicken or fish, you may not want to do that, LOL. A few days ago I bought some eggs to use for some photography experimentation with light. I saved a couple of the shells because I knew there would be a day where I needed an interesting subject to shoot. Today was that day!

I experimented with different orientations, DoFs, number of ‘subjects’, etc. I did a black & white conversion in Lightroom, because I like the texture and shape (and brown eggs just are not very interesting from a color standpoint). When I was setting up, the available light I used was the lighting fixture above my dining room table. The fixture has 3 bulbs which make for multi-shadows, so I unscrewed two of the bulbs to give a simple shadow. I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed creating them!

Today after church was spend w/ a good friend and her kids. After some catch we went to a local farm called Cows & Cones. The kids can see and pet some live stock, run in the open field, and get really good ice cream. Later the kids and I played on their trampoline. A friend suggested that I set up the camera on a tripod and remotely trigger it. So I did. It was a lot of fun and the kids LOVED having their photos taken and then seeing them 🙂

This first photo I would like you to let me know what you think of it. The editing, composition, etc. I’m looking for honest critiques. I can post the original if will help (just let me know, and I’ll edit the post). Thanks in advance! The second is just for fun 🙂

I tend to recycle as much as I can (it saves me money on trash service, not going to debate the environmental pluses/minuses of recycling here), and had a few of my cleaned out yogurt containers sitting on the counter ready to go to the recycle bin, but the colors caught my eye a few days ago, so I left them for such a time as this 🙂

I thought it would be cool to play with them a little in front of the camera as an exercise in color. I also hope this encourages you to look at everything around you for inspiration for shooting! Look at the images below and then think about that they are of my trash! Subjects for your work can be anything! I challenge you to look for interesting subjects in new and abnormal locations/places, maybe even your own trash can!

And as an FYI, I’m leaving in about 15 min to head back up to the ADK Mountains in upstate New York for tonight and tomorrow. I may not get a chance to post tomorrow, but I will be taking some photos, you can be sure 🙂 I’ll definitely post on Sunday.

Have you ever lost your creative drive? Had a time when you couldn’t think of anything to shoot? Gotten stuck in a photography rut? Try this: pick some random, possibly mundane, object and try to shoot it. Don’t stop shooting till you get an something that is completely different from how you saw it before. Try different angles, perspectives, lighting types/placements, depth of field, shutter speed, editing techniques, etc. If you have a macro filter or lens, shoot something small or just up close and personal. If not, try a longer exposure while twisting the zoom or focus ring. Start doing that every so often and you will always be able to find a way to create a new image that will break you from your ‘box!!’

Today I did just that. I thought I would try and shoot an ice cube. That’s a pretty mundane and ordinary object, that we see all the time! It took many different shots before I finally tried something completely different. I was trying to use my speed light to cause it to glow and highlight the air pockets. I didn’t like any of those (till I editing a couple). Then I grabbed my laser pointer (It has had an appearance in a couple of posts, a chair and fruit), and It got me excited seeing what was happening on my live view 🙂 It was totally unlike anything I’ve done with ordinary objects. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did creating them 🙂

Today we had Family Fun Day, which started off with a pot luck then a Veggie Tales movie. Then I went on a 10 mile bike ride with a cycling group at my church. (I was the only guy on a Mt. Bike, and consequently, the slowest guy out there! I need to hit the gym!)

If you don’t know what a pot luck is, it’s where every family brings a random dish to share w/ the rest of everyone. Sometimes they can be organized and have lots of variety, or 6 types of jello, a bag of chips, and a lot of soda. This was the former and I just wish I had more room in my stomach!

I’m normally a planner: planning vacations a year out, having my shopping list on my phone, looking at multiple routes to a destination a week out, and planning future expenses on a monthly basis. However, I’m not good at planning a menu. So, no days like today, when I’m busy, working in the garage till I get hungry, I have to think of something easy, quick, and that involves ingredients I have in the house (which because I don’t plan meals, other than my standard lunch/breakfast, which rarely change), dinner can be interesting.

Tonight I had available to me eggs (extra from a recipe I made for Easter) and pancake mix. I have been eyeing the eggs for a few days now, so I decided to fry them up, sunny-side-up and enjoy them. Which I did 🙂

I know today is Π (Pi) Day and I should have pulled something witty out of my bag, like baking a pie, or making the symbol with 3.14 grains of rice and shooting macro, but not today!

I had placed a stale piece of bread on my deck hoping to attract some birds, and it worked! I set up my camera with my 200mm zoom and pre-set the settings and shot away as a couple of birds ate. I also dropped a coffee bean this morning while doing the daily grind, and being inspired by Pablo’s Day 100 post, I figured I would try shooting it with my macro filter.

Except maybe if it’s home-baked, from scratch, beer bread! Just kidding! I’ve been craving some for a while and I finally picked up some flour the other day and made some tonight! It’s probably the easiest thing to bake, next to a frozen pizza. If you are interested, the recipe is below the photos (I have to get you to want it first, right?)

45 mm, 1/25 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600, 18-55mm kit lens (Beer Bread)

55 mm, 1/25 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600, 18-55mm kit lens (Loaf of Bread)

41 mm, 1/40 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, 18-55mm kit lens (Beer Bread)

Beer Bread

3 Cups self-rising flour

1/2 Cup sugar

12 oz beer

2 Tablespoons melted butter

Pre-heat oven to 375F

Butter a loaf pan and set aside

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and beer. Mix well. The mixture will be sticky

Pour mixture into the loaf pan

Bake for 55 min, or until done (test with a toothpick

5 min before done, brush the top with butter and return it to the oven

Notes: the type of beer will dictate how light/heavy the bread. Light beer makes for a lighter bread, and vice versa. I would recommend starting with the lightest beer you have and adjusting from there. The beer also influences the bread’s flavor. Serve while it’s still warm, with butter for a great treat!

Also note that the cooking removes all the alcohol, so this is safe for kids and those that don’t drink.

Today I wanted to experiment with my close-up lenses some more. And I wanted to eat pie. So, why not do both? I also tried shooting the coffee grounds still in the coffee maker and the aluminium foil that was covering the pie. Sad thing is that writing about it makes me want to get another piece! I think you’ll want one, too!

I was just messing around with my tripod/camera and thought it would be fun to play with my food. Nothing spectacular today, it was fun to try using my tripod in a different way (pointing down from a low hight).

Right now I have my camera sitting on a tripod pointed NNE with the shutter open. It’s been open for about 15 min, and if I don’t plan on shutting it for another 45 min. I really want to get some start trails 🙂 I just hope my battery is up for the 2hr task (the camera does a noise [that grainy thing you see in some photos taken in low light or indoors] reduction process that takes as long as the exposure to improve the final image). I won’t know till about 11:35 (or when I wake up and have a photo or not).

Since I planned this from early today (weather.com promised a mostly clear night), I planned ahead so we would all have something to see. 🙂 For a while I’ve been craving pancakes, so I decided to make some for lunch today, since I was working from home. Nothing fancy, just my lunch: